News 09:00

BULLETIN 15 September 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Godongwana says infrastructure investment is central to economic growth
# The Workers and Socialist Party says the SACP’s election campaign represents ANC policies
# And, the US minority leader calls for immediate congressional action to regulate artificial intelligence

# Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana says higher levels of infrastructure investment are central to raising the prevailing low levels of economic growth. South Africa’s gross domestic product contracted by 0.2-percent in the second quarter of this year. Government is looking to invest one-trillion-rand directly in infrastructure over the next three years, while also unlocking private-sector participation in areas such as grid development, logistics and water. Godongwana says the infrastructure backlog represents a growth opportunity that is not constrained primarily by financial resources, but by the capacity to implement.

# The Workers and Socialist Party says the South African Communist Party’s decision to contest the upcoming local government elections independently is a step in the right direction. However, it cautions that the SACP’s continuation of the Tripartite Alliance with the ANC is today the single most important obstacle to working-class unity. The Workers and Socialist Party’s Mametlwe Sebei says the SACP election platforms barely represent any radical rupture with current ANC policies:

# The DA says Tshwane mayor Nasiphi Moya’s decision to unilaterally disconnect electricity to a reservoir owned by Johannesburg Water in Centurion is reckless and irresponsible. This is over an outstanding debt of 62-million-rand. The disconnection forms part of the metro’s ongoing Tshwane Ya Tima revenue-collection operation, targeting defaulting customers, including government entities. The DA’s Stephen Moore says the issue is not the need for the repayment of debt owed to Tshwane, but Moya’s reckless interference with an already constrained infrastructure system:

# US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has called on Congress to take steps to regulate artificial intelligence, saying the safety and the well-being of the American people must be protected. This is amid top leaders in the AI industry urging a more cautious approach to the development of the technology, warning that it could eradicate humanity if left unchecked. Jeffries says the American people must be able to experience the benefits of artificial intelligence without being subjected to the very real and dangerous downsides:

# Soccer: South Africa will have four clubs in the second round of African club competition after weekend victories for Orlando Pirates and Durban City. Defending African champions Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs had already received byes into the second round. Pirates will face Namibia’s African Stars, while Sundowns meet Angola’s Wiliete in the Champions League. In the Confederation Cup, Chiefs take on Zambia’s Red Arrows and Durban City face Mauritius club AS Port Louis 2000. The second-round ties will decide which teams reach the lucrative group stages in November.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-27-cents and the euro at 18-rand-77-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-94-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 77-thousand-618-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-303-dollars-25-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 108-dollars-63-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….